Hua Hu Ching - Verse 7 Continuation

Moses. Buddha. Jesus. Mohammad. Lao Tzu. What aspects do they possess in common? For one thing, each was male. That's rather interesting in and of itself when we consider that, at least, one-half of the world is female. But discussion of this intriguing element will have to wait for a separate blog post!

Another thing these five share in common is that each one of them is long dead, if they ever walked the earth at all. The lot of them are what we could best describe as mythic figures. While we may known some substantive things about a few of them, we don't really know that much about any of them! Of course, adherents to each perspective will argue this point, but I would counter that it bears itself out in the very fact that among such adherents there are fierce debates about what each did and said as well as what such things mean.

So, as mentioned in the first part of my discussion of Verse 7, we find ourselves in the weirdest of dichotomies: On one hand, we tend to denigrate the Homo sapiens and their ancestors who walked the earth before us because of their lack of knowledge, crazy superstitions and minimal collective consciousness. On the other hand, we hold up certain members of this same class of people as the gods and prophets of our species for all time.

For me, part of the explanation is found in our own innate inferiority complex. Regardless of the epoch, we humans share a curiosity about and fear of that we cannot know. We realize that we don't know the answer and we strongly suspect that none of our contemporaries do either. So, we look longingly to the past. But not the recent past because it can be easily shown that those who came immediately before us were as clueless as we are!

So, we invent mythic figures from antiquity who were able -- magically, I suppose -- to discern that which seems indiscernible to us. It comforts us to think that, somewhere in the annals of time, there were a few special people who were "in the know". The alternative to such thinking would be to admit that nobody will ever know which, for many, simply is far too disconcerting to fathom.

I believe there is also a second factor that helps to explain this phenomena as well. While we modern day humans like to think we have progressed so far in the evolutionary process, we really aren't that much different from our earliest predecessors. While we do, in fact, possess greater knowledge and understanding of many facets of life AND we face countless more distractions borne of our advances in technology, the most basic aspects of being human have not changed appreciably.

We need the same basic physical things to survive and we contemplate the very same things that people contemplated thousands of years ago. When these stock contemplations first made their way to paper (or papyrus or stone tablets or bamboo, etc.), they established the elemental foundation of what we continue to wrestle with today. In a manner of speaking, since they beat us to the punch, their words are the ones immortalized in history.

I'm sure each of you can come up with other reasons and rationales for our longing look backwards (and please add them in the comments section), but I will hang my hat on these two today.

I want to return now to the second line quoted in this verse: "What is painted in these scrolls today will appear in different forms in many generations to come." What I believe the author is indicating is that, while the basic contemplations will forever remain the same, each epoch or generation will restate them in their own way.

But, for many, we have not allowed this sentiment to ring true! We have fixed the words of our grand mythic figures in cement and anyone who attempts to restate/reformulate these basic ideas and concepts into a contemporary form is derided for adulterating the hallowed texts themselves. We're so fixated on the past that we refuse to grasp hold of the here and now.

I focus a lot of the writings on this blog at the TTC and now the HHC. I plan to undertake a series on Chuang Tzu in the future. Who knows? At some point, I may even try to tackle the I Ching! But intermingled with this view backwards, I'm also trying to forge some contemporary Taoist thought, albeit from one Taoist perspective.

In the end, there is nothing wrong with looking to the classic texts of the past. Each one speaks of the same issues we contemplate today. I submit that we err, however, when we theorize or believe that these ancient men had the capability of knowing things we cannot know today. They struggled with the exact same needs, desires, uncertainties and questions that we do.

What these ancient works should provide us with is a jumping off point and nothing more. Each person, regardless of when that person lived or lives, must seek and find that which can be found on their own.

The dead have no better answers than the living.

This post is part of a "miniseries". For an introduction, go here.